Artnotes: Worth Living

Cheers   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/panel   14 x 10" 35 x 25cm   Sold

I have never been one to stay at home.  Like the postman, “neither rain nor snow nor gloom of night….” holds me back.  I go out every day, and if I can’t I am crazy.  Blizzard be damned.  So you can imagine what I am feeling about now. I try exercising indoors, but I pulled my knee muscle and am hobbling about (scared to take ibuprofen).  That never happens when I just go out on my appointed rounds.   I try to meditate, an activity that’s  never been my shtick.

View from Antonio's   Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  12 x 20"  30 x 50cm   190.00

We still go out to walk Harika, every morning, 6:30-ish; no one in Italy is awake. It is breathtakingly quiet and beautiful.  Trees are just coming into bloom, and masses of flowers are enjoying this clean air way ahead of time. I am still going to my studio, pretty much daily.  I am painting, from photos, mostly…people making dinner, eating food.  I line them up around our dining table, like I have friends with us.

From the Head of the Table   Laurie Fox Pessemier acrylic/canvas paper    12 x 8"  30 x 20 cm  90.00

Lockdown is a numbers game – we can see it worked in China; and in Lodi, Italy (which was shut down on 23 February) numbers of new infections are leveling out.  We are just not far enough into the process, and, in places like Bergamo, people are misbehaving.

Spaghetti Eater   Laurie Fox Pessemier acrylic/canvas paper    12 x 8"  30 x 20 cm  90.00

Although I must resist plague news, I have received some terrific correspondence, for which I am eternally grateful. A friend T, says “And as times become so very interesting, it’s worth living more than ever.”  He also says that the virus isn’t necessarily fatal, a bold statement from a septuagenarian. My friend, V, is translating Pushkin into English.  Pushkin was a plague writer, delighted to be quarantined in the country while the cities were ravaged by cholera (Celebrate this plague, the beast…)  V is thrilled to be trapped at his kitchen table, writing.  Normally he works madly, flying here and there, and hasn’t written seriously in a decade.

Sengalese Cook  Laurie Fox Pessemier acrylic/canvas paper    12 x 8"  30 x 20 cm  90.00

He wrote another fabulous note: "only the global thing can defeat globalisation".  And it’s true.  We all must work together as a planet to save ourselves. Meanwhile, here’s today’s look at Rome, not seen in 50 years:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0P3aT7cNJg